Desperation and Temptation: Hell's Fire
by Athina Dark-Angel of Death
Summary: ONE SHOT Bart is desperate to have Wally accept him as being worth something, so deperate that he'll risk his own life by making a deal with a fire lady he meets in a dream. What will happen?


I heard the song Fallen and I whipped this little story up. Then I looked up the words and found out that it matched the words of the song better than I knew. The fire lady had no connection to the line about fire in the song when I wrote it since I didn't know that it was a line in the song, but I am glad that it turned out to fit it. I own the fire lady idea since I did not take her from anything. She is a fire spirit demon thing.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of DC's characters or ideas. I did not make the song that inspired me to write this shown at the bottom. It belongs to Sarah McLachlan.

Desperation and Temptation: Hell's Fire

Bart stood there silent as Wally yelled at him over how he should grow up and quite treating fights as games. They had just tried to stop a few out of control super villains, Mirror Master and Captain Cold to be precise, and Bart had ended up slipping on some ice and left himself wide open for an attack. Wally had saved him from becoming a human popsicle before putting him down. Bart then tried to help with Mirror Master and caused Wally to get trapped in the mirrors before finally being able to get him out by luck only. Needless to say, Wally wasn't too pleased. The problem was that Bart had been making these mistakes more and more often lately. The more he tried the more he seemed to fail. Since he was currently living at Wally's house, it wasn't like Bart could avoid the guy that much and the angry glares were more then enough to lower his self esteem down to nothing.

Bart sat in his room rocking back and forth as tears streamed down his face. As he drifted off to sleep huddled in the corner he wondered if he should just quit. A voice came to him as the waves of sleep claimed him and his vision burned red and yellow with a roaring flame. Immense heat clamped onto him as the vision of lava pools painted themselves out in front of him. "I can make you better," the voice said to him as lava formed itself into a woman. "How?" Bart asked noticing that he was still crying. "Knowledge, intuition, power, I can give you all of these. Your body may not be able to handle it though," she told him. The offer seemed so good though as Wally's voice from earlier sounded through his head "_Useless...Your not even trying to be serious are you?_" "Please, Let me try," Bart said his desperation clearly woven in his voiced. "Very well," she said and walked out if the pit and toward him. She could feel his skin burning as she stood in front of him and felt the scorching heat melting him as she walked into him. The melting sensation went away when she had fully disappeared but he still felt like his whole body was on fire and unconsciousness couldn't claim him from this pain.

Bart forced himself to focus through the pain and dull it by making his nerve endings' pain signals less responsive. His vision cleared as he woke back up to find it was now morning. Even as the dream faded, the burning sensation did not. Bart heard the TV on and the news announcing Captain Cold and Mirror Master were at it again. You'd think it be someone else but no these two wanted to get their buts kicked again. Bart quickly changed into his Kid Flash costume and rushed off. The pain was slowing him down so he concentrated to dull it more as he ran. When he got there Wally was already there having a hard time handling both of them "_Build up energy around your body to create a heat wave._" Bart instantly recognized that it was the voice from the dream and did as he was told. He could just feel how to do what she asked of him. Under normal circumstances he would have had a hard time but not with the help of that lady. He sprinted toward Captain Cold first only to find it was an illusion, which caused him to spin around looking for the real one just in time to see an ice ray fly toward him. The ice beam sizzled against his heat shield and Bart ran strait into the beam and grabbed a hold of Captain Cold's wrist. Unfortunately, he still had the heat shield surrounding him and this caused Captain Cold to scream in pain as his wrist burnt. Bart was quick to let go and get rid of his shield so that he could tie up Captain Cold. Wally was dealing with Mirror Master and a bunch of mirrors were shattering everywhere including into Wally's skin.

Without another thought, Bart charged forward. "_Surround yourself with energy but let it pulse off as light this time. The mirror ones will gleam while the real one will be like a normal person with light on them._" Bart did as he was told and sure enough, the original one wasn't where he had thought. Mirror Master was actually heading off to the side past Bart to untie Captain Cold and Bart wasn't going to let that happen. Wally saw it too and joined Bart in running after him. Soon the two of them were tied up and off with the police after Wally ran them to the station. He ran back to where Bart still was and examined them place. "Bart, how did you do that?" Wally asked turning to him at last. "Energy buildup," Bart responded feeling dizzy for some reason. Wally's eyes widened and snatched Bart up in his arms. Before Bart knew what had happened he was at the hospital. "Huh?" Bart asked looking up at Wally like he was a lunatic. "You're cut up everywhere, Bart!" Wally said trying to keep his voice calm. Bart still stared at him then looked down to see that his whole suit was turning red to match Wally's Flash suit. "Oh?" Bart said confused. He saw the evidence that he was bleeding, but he didn't feel it. Besides, why weren't the cuts closing? The Doctors seeing Bart rushed to help him. "Why didn't you tell me!?" Wally said loosing it a little. "I didn't know," Bart answered truthfully. "DIDN'T KNOW! How can you not notice when you're bleeding all over the ground?" "I... just," Bart said at a loss for words. "Please sir," the nurse said trying to be polite, "he's probably in shock." They rushed him into the room where Wally was told he could not follow and Wally resorted to pacing, then calling everyone he knew with his wife last so that he could rattle on his panic to her. She had other ideas though and asked him to pick her up and bring her over there.

Wally did so and soon after the Teen Titans were showing up and joining Wally in his pacing. The door opened and revealed a man in a medic coat. "Sir," the doctor said referring to Wally. He motioned Wally to come closer and then explained Bart's current condition. "His pain receptors don't seem to be working properly and he's running a high fever. On top of that, he's lost quite a bit of blood and his heartbeat has become erratic. We've tried to stabilize him but none of the medicines work. His immune system negates all medicines given to him. Also, the cuts seem to be closing up and reopening themselves. They're healing from his powers as you told us they should but we can't figure out what's reopening them. He has several burn marks that are also appearing and disappearing," the doctor said finally finished with his assessment. "Burn marks?" Wally asked. "Yes, those seem to be caused by his fever. It's more like an internal fire than a fever actually." "Can we see him?" Cassie asked stating what was on everyone's minds. The doctor nodded and opened the door to reveal Bart hooked up to several machines. There was a blood dispenser and heart rate monitor, as well as an oxygen tank.

Bart was squirming but stopped when he saw Wally. The last thing he needed was for Wally to see him as a weakling. He felt tears run down his cheek betraying him as the burning sensation grew. He couldn't muffle the pain as well as before. "Bart," he said in a soft voice as he knelt down. Bart smiled at Wally trying to assure him he was ok even if the mass amount of machines indicated otherwise. "Something's not right," Raven said from behind everyone. She came forward with her eyes locked on Bart. She reached out telepathically and felt inside of Bart then peered into his very soul. "**_Demon_**," she said in an eerie voice. "What?" everyone asked. "**_Get out of him now_**," she demanded as her soul self grabbed onto the presence and yanked it out of Bart to reveal the fire lady. "**_I only sought to help him. He asked me to make him better. I did as I promised, so why do you raise anger at me?_**" the demoness said in an eerie voice of her own. "**_You knew he would accept. You feed off of desperation and then devour your victims. There is nothing just about that._**" "**_He wished to be smarter, to be better. I warned him he would not be able to take my power and delivered. Now he dies from my power so I have right to feast on dieing flesh and soul._**" Raven didn't care what the agreement was, she was going to kick this demoness's ass out of Bart and back into the pit of hell that she came from. Using her soul self she dragged the lava lady into her and back to hell.

The jarring unfortunately caused Bart's heart monitor to scream out a flat line that called the doctors and nurses to rush in. The deliberators were charged up and the first "clear" could be heard followed by nothing. "Clear," came the word again as Bart was zapped a second and more successful time. Everyone let out their breaths in relief. Bart didn't open his eyes and left everyone still nervous. The cuts disappeared in a few minutes, however, and did not return. "The heart beat is stabilized," the doctor latter explained, "It's at a normal rate and all the cuts and burns are healed. His blood also seems to be replenishing itself now. He should be fine after he gets some rest." Everyone sighed in relief.

When Bart came home later, Wally had a long chat with him about what had happened. "I'm sorry. I was wrong to yell at you and say what I did. I was just worried about you and a little frustrated. If I spent more time teaching and less time yelling, then you wouldn't be making those mistakes as often, besides I shouldn't put so much pressure on you in the first place," Wally said quietly and leaned in to hug Bart. "Trust me. I'll work on it and work with you more. I'll start being family instead of just the person that always scolds you." Bart nodded against Wally's chest and for once felt comfortable in the place he was living.

The End

I'm sorry it was short. If people want a Sequel, I'll gladly write one if ideas are supplied. I might (but probably won't) spiff this up later. Hope you like it, and please leave a review telling me what you think.

Here's the song btw 

**SARAH McLACHLAN LYRICS**

**"Fallen"**

Heaven bent to take my hand  
And lead me through the fire  
Be the long awaited answer  
To a long and painful fight

Truth be told I've tried my best  
But somewhere along the way  
I got caught up in all there was to offer  
And the cost was so much more than I could bear

Though I've tried, I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I have messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so...

We all begin with good intent  
Love was raw and young  
We believed that we could change ourselves  
THe past could be undone  
But we carry on our backs the burden  
Time always reveals  
The lonely light of morning  
The wound that would not heal  
It's the bitter taste of losing everything  
That I have held so dear.

I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I have messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so...

Heaven bent to take my hand  
Nowhere left to turn  
I'm lost to those I thought were friends  
To everyone I know  
Oh they turned their heads embarrassed  
Pretend that they don't see  
But it's one missed step  
You'll slip before you know it  
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed

Though I've tried, I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I have messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so...  
_2X_


End file.
